Donald Trump pardons Republican politician who splurged fraud money on plastic surgery

Donald Trump has pardoned a fraudster Republican politician who splurged some of the $70,000 (£52,000) meant for a statue of a slain police officer on personal costs.

Michele Fiore even treated herself to plastic surgery with the cash she defrauded during her time on the Las Vegas City Council. She was awaiting sentencing - likely to have been at least 10 years in jail - for six counts of federal wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. However, Mr Trump, 78, intervened on Thursday - and gave her a full pardon.

Thanking Mr Trump, Ms Fiore said her life has almost been "dismantled" due to her ordeal. The former state lawmaker, who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for state treasurer, had raised more than $70,000 for the statue of a Las Vegas police officer who was fatally shot in 2014 in the line of duty, but had instead spent some of it on the cosmetic surgery, rent and her daughter’s wedding.

During the 54-year-old woman's trial, federal prosecutor Dahoud Askar said: "Michele Fiore used a tragedy to line her pockets." The mum denied the charges but was convicted.

FBI agents in 2021 subpoenaed records and searched Ms Fiore’s home in Las Vegas in connection with her campaign spending. In a statement, Nevada Democratic Party Executive Director Hilary Barrett called the pardon "reckless" and a "slap in the face" to law enforcement officers.

Ms Fiore, who does not have a law degree, was appointed as a judge in deep-red Nye County in 2022 shortly after she lost her campaign for state treasurer. She was elected last June to complete the unexpired term of a judge who died but had been suspended without pay amid her legal troubles. Pahrump, in Nye County, is one hour’s drive west of Las Vegas.

In her statement on Thursday, Ms Fiore also said she plans to return to the bench next week. Nye County said it is awaiting an update on Fiore's current suspension from the state Commission on Judicial Discipline, which told The Associated Press in an email that it was aware that Ms Fiore had been pardoned but that it didn't have further comment on her situation.

Ms Fiore served in the state Legislature from 2012 to 2016. She was a Las Vegas councilwoman from 2017 to 2022. While serving as a state lawmaker, Ms Fiore gained national attention for her support of rancher Cliven Bundy and his family during armed standoffs between militiamen and federal law enforcement officers in Bunkerville, Nevada, in 2014 and Malheur, Oregon, in 2016.